North Sea

Finding a sense of porpoise.

Posted by Willie — 19 May 2016 at 12:00pm - Comments

Being a porpoise looks rubbish.

Dolphins look like they have fun. They even look like they seek out fun. Okay, the fixed grins make them seem perpetually happy but let’s be honest - when was the last time you saw a porpoise jumping out of the water or heard a friend gushing about an *amazing* experience seeing porpoises?

There’s good reason that porpoises don’t have the wow factor of dolphins: and it’s not just that they have bad PR people.

Article tagged as: bycatch, dolphins, dredging MCZs, fishing, harbour porpoise, International Whaling Commission, mexico, MPAs, noise, north sea, oceans, PCBs, pollution, porpoise, SACs, strandings, totoaba, UK Marine Bill, vaquita

Lessons from the Elgin gas leak: why we must stop Shell's Arctic drilling

Posted by bex — 4 April 2012 at 1:51pm - Comments

Arctic foxes rely heavily on marine and coastal resources

Ten days after the leak began, Total is still struggling to contain the gas pouring from its North Sea Elgin platform, citing bad weather as the cause of the delays. Yet, in just 100 days’ time, Shell wants to start drilling for oil in the remote and extreme Arctic environment – claiming it has the technology and the tools to deal with any spill.

Here are six reasons why an oil spill in the Arctic would be so much harder to deal with than a gas leak in the North Sea, and so much more catastrophic:

Article tagged as: #savethearctic, arctic, arctic drilling, climate change, elgin, go beyond oil, north sea, oil, shell, total

Big Oil steps up the battle for deep water drilling

Posted by bex — 12 September 2011 at 3:16pm - Comments

by. Credit: Laurent Hunziker / Greenpeace

The winning entry to our 2010 'Rebrand BP' competition

Another week, another push for reckless oil drilling by a UK company. This time it's BP, which wants to drill its deepest ever well in UK waters - a 1300 metre well - off the coast of North Uist.

Article tagged as: BP, climate change, deep water drilling, deepwater horizon, go beyond oil, north sea, oil

Shell: "Something has gone wrong here"

Posted by bex — 18 August 2011 at 3:55pm - Comments

North Sea drilling platform Neddrill 7, co-chartered by Shell and Esso (1991)

Shell has apologised for the North Sea oil spill and for its own lack of transparency saying: "The fact is something has gone wrong here, so whatever risk assessment we made about the condition of these pipes has proven to be wrong."

Article tagged as: arctic, climate change, energy, go beyond oil, north sea, oil, oil spills, shell

Shell less than transparent about worst UK oil spill in a decade

Posted by bex — 15 August 2011 at 1:52pm - Comments

Shell/Esso's Kittiwake platform, North Sea (1996)

As I write, Shell is working to contain an oil spill off the Aberdeenshire coast that is already, reportedly, the worst spill in UK waters for over a decade.

Article tagged as: climate change, energy, esso, go beyond oil, north sea, oil, oil spills, shell

Tax breaks for riskiest oil drilling?

Posted by Richardg — 27 May 2011 at 5:45pm - Comments

There’s a dangerous storm brewing in the North Sea. But this is no natural disaster - it’s been whipped up by oil and gas companies lobbying for a major tax cut.

In the Budget, the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced a fuel duty stabiliser. When oil prices were high – over $75 a barrel to be precise – he’d cut taxes on motoring, and tax oil companies instead. When oil prices dropped below $75 a barrel, he’d whack a tax on fuel, but give oil companies a break.

Article tagged as: climate, climate change, go beyond oil, north sea, oil drilling, oil spill, osborne, shetland

Using leaks to prevent spills?

Posted by jamess — 10 December 2010 at 5:44pm - Comments

by. Credit: Greenpeace

Chevron's projection of a possible oil spill at its Lagavulin drill site in the North Sea

From Chevron to Shell, Nigeria to the North Sea, the slippery mask of big oil was briefly removed this week.

On Tuesday we learned from a leaked internal company report that Transocean – the operators of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig – had a partial “blow-out” on one of its North Sea rigs only months before the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.

Article tagged as: chevron, climate change, go beyond oil, leaks, north sea, oil spill, wikileaks

Greenpeace UK

Finding a sense of porpoise.

Lessons from the Elgin gas leak: why we must stop Shell's Arctic drilling

Big Oil steps up the battle for deep water drilling

Shell: "Something has gone wrong here"

Shell less than transparent about worst UK oil spill in a decade

Tax breaks for riskiest oil drilling?

Using leaks to prevent spills?

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